Four-city Kansas tour concludes July 18 at the McPherson Opera House
McPHERSON, Kan. — Ballet Wichita will perform its full-length production of Alice in Wonderland at the McPherson Opera House on Saturday, July 18, the final stop on a four-city summer tour that has brought the company’s dancers to stages across Kansas.
The July 18 performance at the McPherson Opera House closes Ballet Wichita’s summer tour, bringing the company’s full staging of Alice in Wonderland to McPherson audiences. After stops in Ottawa and Emporia, McPherson will be the final Kansas community to see this production this season.
The production is being built from the ground up. Casting is complete and dancers are already in rehearsal, with all-new costumes created in-house by Ballet Wichita’s costume manager and
design team. The original choreography, by Company Director Katie Andrusak, moves between classical and neoclassical ballet, tap, and comedy, and brings Alice’s adventures to life through custom projection design created in partnership with Wichita State University — the company’s second collaboration with WSU this season.
Set to the music of Carl Davis, Joby Talbot, and Tchaikovsky, the two-act, full-length ballet follows Alice down the rabbit hole and through Wonderland — the Pool of Tears, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter’s tea party, and the Queen of Hearts’ court.
“Taking Alice on the road is exactly what we mean when we talk about being Kansas’s ballet company. We don’t want this work to live only in Wichita — we want families in Ottawa, Emporia, and McPherson to have a full professional production come to them. That’s how you build ballet into the life of a region.” Alana Veges, Board President, Ballet Wichita
“Alice is a joy to choreograph because the world is so big — you get to build the rabbit hole, the tea party, the Queen’s court, all of it. I wanted to move between classical ballet, neoclassical, and even tap, with comedy woven through, so there’s something in it for everyone. Our goal was to make Wonderland feel as strange and wonderful on stage as it is in your imagination,” Katie Andrusak, Company Director and Choreographer, Ballet Wichita
The tour brings Alice in Wonderland to three Kansas communities:
● Ottawa — Friday, June 19, Ottawa Memorial Auditorium
● Wichita — Friday June 26 & Saturday June 27, Sebits Auditorium at Friends University
● Emporia — Saturday, July 11, Granada Theatre
● McPherson — Saturday, July 18, McPherson Opera House
Tickets for each performance are available through the host venue. Details and links for all four cities are at balletwichita.com.
About Ballet Wichita
Ballet Wichita advances the art of ballet through high-quality training, professional performances, and meaningful community engagement that nurtures artists and inspires our region.
Founded in 1973, the organization operates both a professional company and the Ballet Wichita Academy, serving dancers from early childhood through pre-professional levels and engaging
audiences throughout South Central Kansas.
The Ballet Wichita Academy offers training for all levels — from children’s programs through pre-professional instruction — including the Summer Intensive, Master Class Series, Pointe Intensive, Teen Adult Programs, and Teacher Training.
